Inside Gophers guard Isaac Asuma’s ‘let’s go!’ moment against Ohio State

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Isaac Asuma’s surname is pronounced AWESOME-uh, and that adjective root fits the true freshman guard’s production through 15 Gophers men’s basketball games this season.

The Cherry, Minn., native climbed a new peak Monday, with a career high 18 points across 40 minutes played in the 89-88 double-overtime loss to Ohio State at Williams Arena.

With a rib injury to Femi Odukale, head coach Ben Johnson called on Asuma to defend Buckeyes junior Bruce Thornton down the stretch. Johnson would later point out to the rest of his players one moment in particular: how Asuma welcomed the challenge of guarding one of the Big Ten’s best guards with 20 seconds left in regulation.

As Thornton brought the ball across half court, Asuma pumped up the crowd, clapped his hands and got into a defensive stance to hold onto a 72-70 lead.

“That just signified to me a guy who has no fear, no back-down,” Johnson said this week as his team prepared for Friday night’s game at Wisconsin. “There was respect there, you could tell. It wasn’t an arrogant thing. It wasn’t an over-confident thing.

“It was competitor on competitor, and it was him telling everybody, including Ohio State, I’m ready to roll. Let’s go!”

Thornton drove to the basket, but Asuma was there to poke the ball out of bounds. Challenge met.

Asuma has shown aplomb throughout the first half of his first college season. The 6-foot-3 point guard is averaging 5.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 turnovers across 26 minutes per game. With his size and history of playing high school football, he is confident driving to the basket and dealing with contact.

Asuma didn’t say there was a specific welcome-to-college-basketball moment early on this season, but there was one that introduced him to Big Ten play. It came against Indiana at Assembly Hall on Dec. 9.

“(I) got picked up full court, got it poked from me and had a turnover,” Asuma said of the conference road opener, during which he played a season-low 11…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/inside-gophers-guard-isaac-asuma-205300733.html

Author : Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Publish date : 2025-01-09 20:53:00

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